Checking In at the Hampton Inn — Be Prepared for a Long Stay

Dominique Hampton seems well-rested. No telltale gray hairs or wrinkles jump out at you. He carries a lot of miles on his body, but the wear and tear doesn't readily show.

This safety from Glendale, Arizona, represents the University of Washington football team's senior statesman, a man with the most game experience, someone who has wandered onto the field more than any of his teammates and covering a much longer period of time.

With 42 outings on his resume, the 6-foot-3, 220-pound defensive back leads the Huskies in game-day appearances, holding up one more than defensive tackle Tuli Letuligasenoa and two more from defensive tackle Ulumoo Ale.

Hampton tops a list of 10 Huskies who have played in 30 or more college football games — and he's one of just five who can say they drew snaps during the long-ago 2018 season as a true freshman.

"I didn't know that," the personable Hampton said of his pace-setting numbers crunching. "That's definitely a lot of games. But with games, comes experience."

MOST GAMES PLAYED

42 — Dom Hampton

41 — Tuli Letuligasenoa

40 — Ulumoo Ale

39 — Devin Culp

37 — Jack Westover

36 — Zion Tupuola-Fetui

36 — Asa Turner

31 — Edefuan Ulofoshio

30 — Faatui Tuitele

30 — Michael Penix Jr. (17 at Indiana)

Hampton and many of those older teammates are part of a college football anomaly about to go extinct — the sixth-year senior, which was created because of the pandemic, with each player from that disjointed time awarded a freebie season.

Of the 10 UW players with 30 or more games, all are sixth-year guys with the exception of safety Asa Turner and defensive tackle Faatui Tuitele, who are a year younger but have played a lot.

Quarterback Michael Penix Jr., of course, spent a good chunk of his college time at Indiana and with better luck it could have been a lot more. He started 14 of 17 games for the Hoosiers while suffering four consecutive season-ending injuries before getting a reprieve in Seattle with 13 uninterrupted starts.

Hampton was a much more slender cornerback when he appeared in four games for the Huskies back as a first-year player in 2018 for Chris Petersen's coaching staff. Linebacker Edefuan Ulofoshio, then a walk-on, drew three games that season, as did Penix at Indiana, while Letuligasenoa and edge rusher Zion Tupuola-Fetui each pulled a pair of starts as true freshmen.

One of Hampton's 2018 outings was against Utah in the Pac-12 championship game, where his coaches named him special-teams player of the game.

MOST 2018 GAMES PLAYED

4 — Dom Hampton

3 — Edefuan Ulofoshio

3 — Michael Penix Jr. (Indiana)

2 — Zion Tupuola-Fetui

2 — Tuli Letuligasenoa

Where Hampton also differs from everyone else is, in all that time, he's made multiple position changes, going from cornerback to safety to the nickelback replica called a Husky and finally to safety again, becoming a starter for the past two assignments.

He's played for three UW coaches, but Kalen DeBoer's staff, drawn to Hampton's size, speed and experience, has used him in the most concentrated fashion, starting him 11 times in 12 games last season.

Hampton is one of seven full-fledged starters who returns for what promises to be a much stingier, big-play Husky defense this fall.

"I would definitely say we're having an attack mentality on defense," he said. "We're definitely trying to create negative plays, take the ball away, chaos whenever we can. It's going to be a good one, for sure."

Hampton has been a steady and intriguing player with all of that defensive back size, yet nothing flashy, with all-conference honors so far eluding him. There's still time.

That's fine because longevity always counts for something and it defines who he is.

"I've been here a while, man," Hampton said. "It's definitely a badge of honor to be able to play so many games for this great fan base. It's amazing."

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